A700 settings for Beach wedding photos

[DaveDam]

Just wondering what some of you might suggest for settings on A700 for shooting wedding photos on a beach. Hopefully it will be sunny and bright.
I was thinking that DRO might be of use, or is it better to leave all settings standard/default and post process the RAW files?

Also I have 28-75 f2.8 tamron and my minolta 50mm f1.7 in mind, and a tripod obviously and the handy remote control as I may be in some of the pictures...

Any advice or experience on beach wedding photos much appreciated.


Thanks


Dave

[pakodominguez]

even if this is your first wedding, don't look at somebody else pics: explore your own creativity -I'm tired looking always the same images, only bride and groom changes...

[pakodominguez]

where in this world? I mean, your beach face south, north, west?
what time is the ceremony?
the party will be in the beach too?
Any falsh for fill-in and/or main light?
I think Zone Matching will be a better help than DRO for recovering detail on the white dress (the Bride will be wearing a white dress, won't she?)
Try to get a wider lens: 28mm isn't wide enough.

[DaveDam]

where in this world? I mean, your beach face south, north, west?
what time is the ceremony?
the party will be in the beach too?
Any falsh for fill-in and/or main light?
I think Zone Matching will be a better help than DRO for recovering detail on the white dress (the Bride will be wearing a white dress, won't she?)
Try to get a wider lens: 28mm isn't wide enough.

Ok all good questions.

Yes on the beach - no party to speak of just the bride, groom and local official. It is in Kenya, island off the coast - not sure of the direction but I think the time of day will be afternoon.
I have a 20mm prime which is pretty wide (for just 2 or 3 people, but might be nice for that close to the beach wide angle type shot - true. I also have the siggy 12-24 but that really doesn't seem to be wedding material - though perhaps closes the gap to 28 a little better....
And it will be a cream-ish white dress, groom wearing darkish trousers and white/cream shirt - sand is light in colour. Flowers will be frangipannis , and that is about the extent of my knowledge.

I will investigate ZM - does that affect RAW files?


Dave

[Javelin]

It might be worth your while goin down to the site with a buddy and try some shots under that light. Beaches are really tough to shoot at because everything is so bright. I'd hate for you to get there and realize you needed a flash or ND filter or something you don't have. This way you can try some test shots and if you have some trouble you can come back for advice.

[pakodominguez]

Yes on the beach - no party to speak of just the bride, groom and local official. It is in Kenya, island off the coast - not sure of the direction but I think the time of day will be afternoon.
I have a 20mm prime which is pretty wide (for just 2 or 3 people, but might be nice for that close to the beach wide angle type shot - true. I also have the siggy 12-24 but that really doesn't seem to be wedding material - though perhaps closes the gap to 28 a little better....
And it will be a cream-ish white dress, groom wearing darkish trousers and white/cream shirt - sand is light in colour. Flowers will be frangipannis , and that is about the extent of my knowledge.

I will investigate ZM - does that affect RAW files?

Dave

The 12~24 will be useful.
Try to use always backlight and under expose your flash about 0.5
"close" the background with trees or something "nice", not white skys.
use the warm colors of the sunset as background, like this example:

then, enjoy the party


As with DRO, ZM is a JPG only thing (but if you are using A/S/P modes, that can affect exposure)

[Javelin]

I knoew I'd seen somewhere that it worked on Raw.. thanks. i'll play with it again now.

Page 71 of the a700 manual...

Zone Matching

"Image styles in the switchable style boxes can adjust the zone matching. You can keep the image from becoming overexposed or underexposed. This function is also available for a Raw file."

I don't have my a700 here (it's at repair), but on the KM5D ZM does effect the exposure on Raw, but it does not apply the special curve. It even works this way in M mode.(But also note, a700 implementation is different than the KM ZM.)

That said, ZM is a great tool to use on high key (and some low key) subjects...

-Sonolta

[DaveDam]

Cool thanks all for the advice, unfortunately I won't be able to scope the place out too much in advance, maybe the few days before hand, which I will do.

I want to look into Zone Matching a little more - I understand there is a good tutorial on it on dyxum but that site has been down for me for some time.
I found this thread
http://www.alphamountworld.com/forums/s ... 2008-4/543

and I looked around here a little too.

Actually I will be giving someone else (possibly not that experienced) the camera to take shots so I need to set it up before hand so they can fire away without having to adjust anything. I was thinking about choosing an aperture before hand and having auto ISO that way I can hope for some nice shallow DOF but still cover the subject's faces, perhaps f4 or thereabouts on the 28-75mm tamron? I will get some time with the person before hand to explain what I want them to do but I don't want to have too complicated job for them. Late on I can use a tripod and fiddle with settings myself. What do people recommend as a mode and settings for potentially inexperienced photographer given the a700 to shoot a beach wedding (I am not expecting perfection, a couple of acceptable to good images and one great one would be enough to be honest) Thankfully the viewfinder is pretty good for framing.

I had thought perhaps I would preset the M1/2/3 for some possible scenarios - eg sun setting behind us, sun low in the sky at 90 degrees or more, and hopefully not needed one for overcast - then I can quickly pick one of these ? Is that too much preparation ?

Perhaps the safest would be to shoot fairly neutral/default settings and RAW and then have the maximum possibility for latitude in fixing the raw afterwards - is that right? Or did I hear that by default the A700 has more latitude in the RAW for highlights than shadow and therefore a slight overexposure is better than not?

Dave